Odd that it was also the lead story on BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) Points west at 0656 as well, but not a dicky bird about it on the BBC Bristol website, the Dft, or Bristol Evening Post !. Makes you wonder whether they were just looking for something to fill the time !

Exorcism  suggests a sort of 'going up'. Hope she didn't take her luggage on the escalators and used the elevators instead!

Can I use the Railcard in Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland?
Railcards can be used for rail discounts in the area known as Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales). They cannot be used for rail travel in either in Northern Ireland nor the Republic of Ireland.

If you live in the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland you can buy a Railcard to use for travelling in Scotland, Wales or England. For more information on concessionary rail travel schemes in Northern Ireland please see www.translink.co.uk or the Republic of Ireland please see  www.irishrail.ie.


From the Senior railcard FAQ^▸ (Frequently Asked Questions)'s.

Shurely shome discrimination here. If all the Irish are allowed to buy railcards to use in England, Scotland ow Wales, why can't we use ours over there ?

All those of you that went to secondary schools in the 50s and 60s in the Bristol aerial ( ahem!) must remember the back covers of your exercise books! They had all the arithmetical tables of number,  imperial measurements of distance, including rods, poles and perches, together with avoirdupois (weight). Not forgetting the sketch map of Fifty miles around Bristol, which certainly burned into my brain !
Even if we were just colouring the map in, during a wet playtime, we were learning where places were in relation to each other. As a junior school teacher of 30 years standing ( retired 10 years ago) I can see the value of reintroducing it,the updated metric tables and the map even now.

First have ordered 500 of these over the last 6 months according to Buses magazine. We have had them on the X2 and X3 routes ( Bristol to Portishead) for about 3 weeks and every journey I have been on has racked up at least one 'incident' from the list below!

Breakdown. Bus internal alarm goes off, the brakes lock and the drivers seem nonplussed as to what to do next
Failure to start even after 7 or 8 attempts
Failure of internal lights, bells and stopping sign
Drivers do not know where the nearside wheels are. Every journey seems to have either the back or the front wheel clipping or crunching the kerb.

I suspect there has been very little driver training on these vehicles. The attitude of First seems to be ' there's the bus...drive it !'. I have put these points to First in an email but if their customer services now based in Southampton, live up to their past record, I won't get a reply.

Another reason that people might want to switch from road to rail in Derbyshire is because DCC^» (Devon County Council - website) do not put any mileages  for locations in Derbyshire on their signposts. Bizarre but true ! I found this out , the hard way when in that part of the world a couple of years ago. When I challenged Derbyshire Transport department about this, i was fobbed off with the reply 'It's always been like this !'. They could not see why I would need to know if Bakewell was 2 or 20 miles away!
Anyone else know the reasoning behind this ??

Trout Pout to end all Trout Pouts !

Dft have published a spreadsheet listing the vehicles owned by the different operators that have been built or refurbished to modern accessibility standards.
Which operator is conspicuous by their absence ? That's right FGW^▸ (First Great Western) ! Why ? Because there are no vehicles listed older than a Class 168 !! Which just goes to show how many 158's 150's 153's and 143's are still trundling around our neck of the woods. I would love to travel on something newer than a 158 !

Thank you grahame. That was exactly my point, which i hope is taken up by publicity conscious MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament) like Charlotte Leslie, (who even found her way into the Manchester Piccadilly Wetherspoons magazine ) and our own Dr Liam Fox who has done very little to advance the cause of the railway since securing an adjournment debate way back in the mists of time.

It is highly likely that if someone got hit by a train on aforesaid level crossing, it would be their own fault..as they would be trying to take a short cut, or jump the barriers/lights. As BNM has said 'level crossings are safe unless used in a unsafe manner

Trainer and I agree to disagree on this. I cannot understand why NR^» (Network Rail - home page) has to take a sledgehammer to crack a nut over the question of a level crossing at Quays Avenue. Anyone with half a brain can see it is the most obvious and cost effective solution. I just think NR should be told, cajoled, emailed and petitioned  time and time and time again , until they get sick of all the aggro, and just go ahead and  build the damn thing. The three existing options on the table for the station are second, third and fourth best respectively.

As we got off at Holy Trinity (thought that was Trowbridge. Melksham and Chippenham combined  ) we both commented isn't that the Melksham train We felt like prodigal sons returning.....

There is another reason why Trainer was so smitten with the sylvan swards of weeping Wisterial Wiltshire ....

I paid his fare ! He was champing at the bit so much that he nearly got on the Great Malvern train that pulled in a couple of minutes before the Melksham Mallard.

He was so taken with the charms of cosmopolitan Chippenham that he couldn't wait for the 1553 return. We actually came back to Trowbridge on the 1500 Faresaver Flyer using our wrinkly bus passes !

Anyone else met the ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company))) employee who does the trolley run on the borders line from Newport or sometimes the HOW ?
He is quite a character with an most engaging  brand of patter as he serves the customers who are invariably called 'David' or 'Mary'........

Now that, has made my day BNM! When anyone asks me the way anywhere in future I will always think of Nessie the navigator !